Replenishing its racks with new clothes as often as once a week is helping the Benetton brand get its groove back after years in the retail doldrums. Its success underscores how logistics can be as
important as style in the increasingly cutthroat business of mass-market apparel.
Benetton Group SpA recently invested more than $160 million to streamline the supply chain of its
brands, which also includes casual-wear labels Sisley, Killerloop and Playlife. The company posted its best results in years in 2006, as revenues jumped 8.4% to about $2.5 billion, and it started to
claw back the market share it had lost to competitors such as H&M and Zara.
But many fashion players have eschewed this approach, focusing on product design and marketing rather than
speedy turnaround times to drive sales. Gap Inc. blames its two-year sales slump partly on attempts to streamline the way it buys fabrics for its Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic brands.
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